Post
by TwoRivers » Sat Jan 23, 2010 2:38 am
Prashant: "the poacher kills for meat, the hunter kills for the "Trophy". You could not be more wrong with your definitions. The poacher hunts/kills outside the law, without regard for seasons and regulations. He kills an animal in order to kill, or to utilize but part of it. He hunts were he is forbidden to. He abides by no ethics. He does not care how long the animal suffers. He mainly kills for commercial gain, or the thrill of killing. Yet, there are "poachers" who hunt ethically and do so to feed their families.
The "hunter", on the other hand, abides by law and ethics. He does not waste the meat. If he does not like the venison, he gives it to those that do. He may, or may not, preserve and treasure the trophy. But not doing so, does not make him a poacher. Just as the "trophy" hunter who hunts ethically is not a poacher. Only when his only concern is the trophy, going so far as to kill, or wound, several animals in order to get a bragging size trophy, while wasting the meat, would I put him even below the poacher.
And yes, where the expansion of human populations has destroyed or limited the natural habitat, and intense management of game (and hunting), is required to maintain wild game populations; hunting/culling of females and fawns may be called for if numbers exceed the carrying capacity of the available habitat.
Happy Hunting!